Ex–Amaranth Trader Brian Hunter Denies That He Is the Root of All Evil

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Brian Hunter, international jerk of mystery.Photo: iStockphoto

Brian Hunter is still salty about all the bad vibes he's gotten from people since 2006, after he lost $6.8 billion making hideously bad bets on natural-gas prices for the hedge fund Amaranth, which maybe-kinda messed up the whole market. Since then, a class-action lawsuit, as well as suits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and former Amaranth investor, have been brought against him. DealBreaker calls him "the destroyer of all worlds." And he really feels persecuted, the 32-year-old explained to Fortune reporter Bethany Maclean, who tracked him down in his native Canada, because it seems to be not for what he did but for who he is. Like, "I must be a bad guy," he said. "Trader. Young. Rich. Hedge fund. You couldn't ask for a more toxic mix. It's really frustrating, right?" Um, right.

Since the mess he made at Amaranth basically ensured that he would never work in this town again, Hunter moved back to his home city of Calgary, where he got a gig as consultant for a fund called Peak Ridge Capital Group. There, he says, he happily goes unrecognized (no pictures of him were ever released to the press), despite the fact that he drives a Bentley Arnage and a Ferrari F430 Spider. Oh, and he doesn't exactly miss New York. "We didn't like the culture," he says, meaning him and his wife. "I hated my job and hated New York." Well. Good riddance, dude.